The present invention is directed to a foamable whey protein composition.
Presently, almost five million tons of whey are produced each year in the United States as a waste product during the production of cheese. For each 100 pounds of milk consumed during the cheese production process, 90 pounds of waste liquid are produced consisting of a watery, protein-rich whey by-product. It is estimated that more than 50 percent of this whey by-product is disposed of each year as unused waste.
It has been difficult to find a commercially-acceptable use for the large amount of whey by-product which is discarded each year. Prior efforts to form useful foamed products, for example, from whey by-products have not met with much success in view of the fact that such by-products do not lend themselves to being readily foamed. Further, even if successful, such activities have been limited to non-fat containing compositions.
It would, however, be very advantageous to provide a process by which such whey by-products can be formed into a readily foamable (and protein-containing) composition, as it would be be useful to both reduce the amount of whey by-product disposed of as waste each year, as well as to provide an alternative to foamable compositions formed from egg whites.